Leith Hill tower migration watch, 14th April

Every once in a while the hours of standing around in the biting cold northerlies at 1000ft seeing disappointingly few birds pays off, the wind changes, the air feels warmer and the birders gathered atop Leith Hill tower are treated to some quality birds. 

Today was one of those days. 

Robin scanning for approaching hirundines

A gorgeous dawn which saw the land below the hill largely shrouded in mist and barely a breath of wind set the scene for a tower watch which, six hours later, we agreed was one for the ages.

Robin Stride, David Stubbs, Stuart Cossey and I ascended the tower a little after 6am and quickly noted Siskins and Linnets flitting about locally along with a couple of singing Chiffchaffs and Blackcaps. Other summer songsters were notably absent though, especially Willow Warbler and Cuckoo, both of which we'd have expected by now. No matter, as there were clearly birds on the move above and around us. The first Swallow flew through fairly early on, followed by more and then later the House Martins arrived. Not the enormous flocks of autumn, perhaps, but a steady trickle nonetheless, and we speculated how far some of these birds might continue to travel before they reached their breeding grounds. 

The City skyline rising up above the mist

Finches were moving too, with a few Chaffinches, Redpolls and Goldfinches seemingly going further than just a short distance as they powered past, plus small groups of Meadow Pipits, often at considerably greater altitude than our lofty viewpoint. Raptors weren't in a mood to be left out and the first Red Kite of the day flew low east relatively early on, followed by another late morning. Meanwhile, as the air warmed, ever increasing numbers of Buzzards took to the skies; a 360 scan mid morning produced a conservative count of twenty-five. There were also at least three Sparrowhawks around, and fly bys from singles of Raven and Peregrine. 

By about 8 am a slight lull descended, giving us chance for refreshments. This was merely the calm before the storm though as just before 8.30 another flurry of activity occurred, with a small party of Goldfinches north and at least three Great Spotted Woodpeckers squabbling and flying around near the tower. Shortly after this I looked up to see a bird flying more or less directly overhead, quite low. It was clearly a finch, but large and flying with perceptible power, and as it opened its wings the sunlight revealed bold white wing flashes just a second or two before it dropped down into the trees just to the east of us. Hawfinch! My first in Surrey since the large flock at Box Hill in 2013. As is now traditional David Stubbs broke out his stash of orange Club biscuits in celebration!

The Dorking Gap, looking more like a river in the fog

Stuart had to leave us at 9am as he was off to tutor some NT volunteers on how to do a butterfly transect, but the tower watch team numbers were soon boosted again by the arrival of Wes Attridge at 10. Wes and I met down at the tea hatch, while Robin and David called out some new additions to the day list from the roof - 'Kestrel!...Mute Swan!' 

Very nice but not really worth sprinting back up for, especially with sausage rolls warming in the oven.

Hot air balloon - one of two up today. None of us had seen any here before
 so clearly a very good day for it

Back up the tower and things really kicked off after 11. By now there were raptors everywhere and we pointed out passing Swallows to some visitors. Just before 11.30 Wes picked up an interesting gull to the south-west, moving with four Lesser Black-backeds which were clearly at least twice the size of the bird in question. We all got on it and, as it slowly came closer, were able to make out the black head, black underwings and buoyant, tern-like flight. LITTLE GULL! Orange clubs all round again. An outrageous tick from a dry inland site, although only a while earlier I had speculated that some of the numbers of this species that had turned up at water bodies in the county recently must travel overland, even if they were 1500-odd foot up and still climbing as this one was.

By 12.30 things had started to really quieten down a bit, and after enjoying an adult Great Black-backed Gull drift high overhead and another little group of House Martins racing north, we decided to call it a day. 

An absolutely superb morning's local birding in great company. Roll on the next one!

Leith Hill - first tower watch of 2016 and goodbye Sam Bayley

It's been two years now since National Trust ranger Sam Bayley first mooted the idea of a visible migration watch at his work place of Leith Hill near Dorking - the highest point in south-east England. Indeed, standing atop the tower you are looking down on The Shard and, if you were to go east, the next highest point is in the Ural Mountains, as Sam always used to love to tell visitors up the tower. So on 5th April 2014 the first group of birders gathered (in a sea of fog, mind!) and since then almost 400 hours of 'vis-migging' have been carried out up the tower, producing well over a hundred species - quite a remarkable feat when you consider the observers remain largely static on the roof which is just a few metres square.

Leith Hill Tower panorama - photo by David Campbell

After a rather late start to the first migration watching season in 2014, in 2015 we opted to begin on 1st March and this year we decided on an even earlier date - 23rd February - mainly because Sam is upping sticks and moving to Ireland. It's no exaggeration to say that Sam has totally put Leith Hill on the map with his ringing and birding efforts up there, not to mention of course the tower watches. He will be missed but we will do our best to carry on his legacy!

Sam Bayley with Buzzard

So it was that four of us - David Stubbs, Robin Stride, Sam and I - convened at first light on Tuesday and made our way up to the tower, where we were soon joined by Wes Attridge and David Campbell, who'd unfortunately got held up en route. 

It was a frosty morning and there was a chilly breeze blowing in from the North Downs, and it's fair to say that none of us were exactly expecting fireworks on the migration side of things. 

Looking south-east from Leith Hill towards Gatwick

We'd soon added plenty of common species to the day list - including at least two hooting male Tawny Owls - before we spotted a Woodlark displaying over Duke's Warren to the north-east; the hill's largest area of open heathland. Throughout the course of the morning we recorded at least four displaying birds, their 'too-lueet' calls occasionally reaching us on the breeze. It was quite something to watch them hanging in the air in front of the London skyline, as Robin so perfectly described later on Twitter. 

Apart from being a great sight in their own right, the Woodlarks proved useful in helping us find other birds, as it was while watching them that Wes picked up three Golden Plover heading north-west distantly over the downs. Unfortunately not everyone got on the birds but as it was a new species for Leith Hill it meant it was time for David S to break out the now traditional orange Club biscuits in celebration!

Other species on the move included quite a few Rooks - not a particularly common sight up the hill - and lots of Herring Gulls, the odd Lesser Black-backed and Black-headed amongst them. Other than 210 Starlings east in two flocks, passerines were fairly thin on the ground with just a few Siskins, Chaffinches, Greenfinches and Goldfinches past, plus two Fieldfare east, one Brambling west and two Meadows Pipits and a Grey Wagtail south. 

David Stubbs unfortunately had to leave us mid-morning which we joked would mean all the best birds would appear. The sun was out by now and the air was perceptibly warming, and by 10:30 there were good numbers of raptors in the sky including at least a dozen Buzzards. Just after 10:40 Wes and David S picked up a Sparrowhawk to the north-east. David Campbell thought he'd got on the same bird but quickly realised this bird was no Sparrowhawk. Soon we'd all got on it, and over the course of the next half hour were treated to phenomenal views of the young female Goshawk as it thermalled around the tower at close range, before drifting powerfully south/south-east at 11:12. David Campbell managed to capture some excellent phone-scope footage of it.

In all we recorded 55 species in almost six hours. Not a bad start to the 2016 Leith Hill vis-mig season and a very fitting send-off for Mr Bayley. Roll on the next tower watch!

Results of tower watch on Trektellen